Teen Titans: Aftermath
by HolyMaryMotherofGawd
Summary: 15 months after the event in Tokyo, the Titans have settled back into their old lifestyles. Robin and Starfire's relationship has been going well, and the crime in Jump City has gone down considerably. However, a new threat is emerging, with the consequences coming to a galactic scale. This, as well as a possible new Titan, will change everything for the team.
1. Chapter 1

**Teen Titans: Aftermath**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ohai everyone. First entry on the Fiction of Fans. Due to my recent obsession with Teen Titans, a storyline popped up in my head which features and OC which may or may not be a representation of myself. This usually happens when I join a fandom, and the idea fades away within a few months, and it just occurred to me today to write it down here while it was still fresh.**

**I'd also like to put heavy emphasis on the fact that this is NOT a ship-centric story. There may be some ship-esque moments, but the story won't be revolving around that. Basically, they'll be there to move the plot along and provide some character development. I'll do my best to not make it feel forced. I wouldn't call myself a spectacular writer as this sort of thing isn't a 'life-devotion' sort of project for me. It's more or less of a hobby I enjoy doing in my spare time.**

**I'd also like you all to take into account that some Teen Titans canon will stay, while other canon is going to be delightfully tossed out the window like a $15 hooker.**

**Also, I don't own the Teen Titans and shit.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**Cheers.**

**-HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

**Chapter 1-Aftermath**

It was akin to a quiet, peaceful summer morning in Jump City. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a sort of shadow over the T-Tower. The birds were just beginning to sing, announcing the new day's arrival. The occasional vehicle could be heard from the poor chump who had to be at work by 6:00 AM. The Titans were all in bed, catching those last few hours of sleep before their daily routines started. Yes, it was looking to be a perfect morning.

Then the alarm rang.

The five Titan's eyes jolted open. That alarm meant one thing. The Titans sprang into the Common Room with rather impressive speed. 'Sprang' really only applied to Cyborg and Beast Boy, as Starfire flew in at near light-speed, and Raven just appeared there in a flash of dark energy with her hood up. Their eyes adjusted to the light to find Robin standing with a timer in hand, smirking at the four other Titans before him.

Robin clicked the 'stop' button on the timer, smirk going away. "One minute, thirty-four seconds. Not bad."

This was followed by a collective groan from the others, which didn't faze Robin in the slightest. He simply raised an eyebrow.

"Dude." said Beast Boy as he rubbed his eyes. "Why?"

"To make sure we're on top of things." Robin replied almost nonchalantly. He then looked at Beast Boy, a stern look behind his mask. "You were the last to arrive, Beast Boy. You need to brush up on that."

Beast Boy's mouth stood slightly agape, looking for a retort. An embarrassed red tint flushed across his green-coloured skin.

"Come on, Robin." Cyborg said in between a yawn. "We've been together for years. You've gotta know how this sort of thing will play out."

"Just in case!" replied Robin as he turned around, raising his voice slightly to further implement his point.

Raven glanced at the clock, it read 3:45 AM.

"Quarter to four and there's no real threat." she stated in her sarcastic, low monotone. "I'm going back to bed."

Raven vanished in a black flash as Beast Boy let out an obnoxiously loud yawn.

"Yeah, I'm going back to bed too." Beast Boy spun around and gave an angry glare at Robin. "And I was having the best dream ever! I was surrounded by a mob of girls that all wanted my autograph! I hope you're happy!" he stormed back to his room.

Starfire remained in her usual happy, innocent self, not seeming the least bit tired. She happily flew over to Robin and floated happily in front of him.

"Boyfriend-Robin!"she said in her usual cheerful tone. "Do you wish to participate in the 'sunset watching' ritual with me?"

It has been almost 15 months since Tokyo, and Robin and Starfire's relationship has been going very well. Albeit Star's sweet talk to her boyfriend makes the rest of the team want to jump off the top of the Tower, but it was nice for Robin.

Other than that, it's been rather normal for the Titans, aside from the fact that it's been slow. REALLY slow. The whole 'saving the world' thing in Tokyo sort of sent a message to other super-villians and meta-humans to the world. A simple message. A message that read:

"Don't f*ck with the Teen Titans."

Granted, it was a little boring at times. But it gave the Titans more opportunities to hang out and be friends, not just a team. It also gave the happy couple time to be just that. A happy couple.

Robin gave Starfire a warm, loving smile. "I'd love to, Star."

Starfire took her boyfriend's hand and flew off to the roof of the tower.

Cyborg stood in the middle of the Common Room by himself. He looked around a few times, and stared directly in front of him.

"Well, at least I have my car." he said cheerfully as he turned to make himself breakfast.

A lone figure was walking at a steady pace. He walked as if he was in somewhat of a hurry, but not too big of one. He kept his glance glued to the ground, yet seemed to glance to his side or behind him often, as if paranoid that someone or something was following him. Nobody was around him though, as he was out in the middle of the highway at 4:00 AM. He had a tattered, hooded, brown cloak loosely draped over his body, the kind you would find on someone trekking through the desert. Except it was battered and torn, with the hood up. If one were to pay close attention, they would notice a slight gleam from beneath the man's hood, as if wearing a helmet with a visor covering the front of his head.

Then, he stopped. There was a sign above him, informing him of his destination. He looked up at the sign, which read:

**-JUMP CITY: 3 MILES-**

The man then glanced to his left. The sun was beginning to rise. It cast an ominous yet beautiful low red across the sky, which was reflected in the crystal clear water. He took a few seconds to let it sink in. To savour it.

Then, as if forgetting the last few seconds completely, he pressed onward.

A large CRASH was heard as Beast Boy threw another Xbox controller across the Common Room.

"I CALL HACKS! SCREEN-PEAKING! MIND CONTROL! THE GAME WAS RIGGED! LAG!" shouted Beast Boy at the top of his lungs while Cyborg laughed during his victory dance.

Raven sat on the other side of the couch, hood up, knees to her chest and face in a book, simply rolled her eyes.

"I mean COME ON guys! Did you even see that crap?" Beast Boy whipped around to face Raven, pointing at the screen.

"I'm completely indifferent to your thumb workouts." said Raven, not looking up from her book.

"Robin!" Beast Boy looked at Robin, who was facing away, making toast for himself. Beast Boy's voice started to take on a pleading tone. "Did you even see that?"

"He won fair and square, Beast Boy. No firmware manipulation, and the internet connection doesn't apply to local games." Robin said, not turning away from his toast-browning.

As if on cue, Starfire burst into the Common Room via the main entrance. Her fiery-red hair still waving behind her from her sudden entrance, her green eyes almost glowing in pure joy from the mass amount of shopping bags on her arms.

"Friends!" she said in a voice that would be considered far too happy for any situation. ever. "I have returned from the Mall of Shopping with delightful purchases!"

Cyborg raised an eyebrow.

"Did we get anything?"

"I'm afraid not, but please observe this Globe of Snow!" her eyes shut tightly and a large grin appeared on her face as she violently shook the globe. "Look! I control the weather in this tiny world!" she giggled immensely.

"Woopee." said Raven in flat monotone.

Suddenly, the alarmed blared. Robin ran to the central screen, observed it for a second or two, then turned to face the team.

"Trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-Back in the Fray**

The hooded man quickly looked up ahead of him as a large explosion was heard in the distance. He then saw the flames of the explosion rise over the buildings in front of him.

He was standing one the sidewalk of a semi-crowded urban street, garnering more than a few stares from people, yet he managed to keep it out of his mind. The road on the street turned left, leaving the medium sized office buildings and apartments in front of him.

His attire beneath the cloak was all the more visible in the bright sunlight, much to his chagrin. He had on a sort of helmet, with a smooth, dome sort of visor covering the entire front side of his face, starting from his forehead, all the way down to his chin. The visor was completely black, however, and it didn't bulge from the helmet whatsoever. The parts that weren't covered by the 'visor' were a dark shade of grey, slightly brighter than the visor colour. On his chin, the grey metal part was slightly elongated, and two circular patterns were placed at the side of the chin, almost resembling a gas mask. If one were to look closely, they would notice that the metal from the helmet also seemed to 'wrap' around the back of his neck and collar. Whatever it was that he was wearing, it probably wasn't made by human hands.

"Uh-oh..." he whispered calmly, almost sarcastically.

He further adjusted the hood on his cloak, tying two pieces of the cloth together around his collar to secure it. He looked around one last time, knelt, and leapt towards the nearest building in front of him. He grabbed a hold of the very top of it and swiftly pulled himself up for a better look at the situation. He took a few steps forward, and stopped in sheer astonishment at the scene before him. A massive fire came a huge chunk that was taken out of the bottom of a small apartment. Citizens were fleeing the scene in panic, shoving each other to get away. There was nothing but a very small piece of the apartment building holding it up.

"Damn..." he whispered as the building toppled over onto the middle of the street. Dust and debris went everywhere.

Another explosion occurred about 17 blocks down, even bigger than the last. The man thought to himself how that was very far away, considering the first explosion happened only 3 minutes beforehand.

He was concerned before, now he was _very_ concerned with this thought in mind.

His immediate attention was then drawn by the sound of two very loud vehicles to his left. He looked back down to the street to find a man on a futuristic-sort of motorcycle speeding past the wreckage, followed by what seemed to be a cybernetic musclecar/SUV. It seemed to be made of both traditional and advanced vehicle technology. They were then soon followed by two flying humanoids, one female, one donned in a blue cloak, and a pterodactyl. His gaze followed the group until they passed the first stoplight.

He looked back behind him for a second or two, then returned his glance to the more recent flames.

Now there were dinosaurs and flying people.

He was _very, VERY _concerned.

From beneath his cloak, he drew a strange sort of object. It was gold in colour, with two curved 'blade-like' appendages at both ends. It seemed to have a few sickly orange coloured lights.

He made a slight jerk with his wrist, and the device's parts suddenly started shifting. Almost instantly it revealed itself to be a sort of futuristic bow.

The hooded man looked down at his bow, eyeing it for a second to make sure all was okay. Then, he started running across the top of the building, and leaping to the next. He ran along the rooftops, making his way towards the bright flames.

* * *

"There's another one!" Robin exclaimed, referring to a second explosion further into town.

"Damn!" Cyborg shouted, staring in disbelief at the screens in the T-Car. "My scanners are going off the charts here!"

Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, who morphed into a pterodactyl, were keeping pace above Robin and Cyborg, flying a short distance behind them.

"These events are happening much too fast, yes?" Starfire asked in a highly worried tone of voice. They were all communicating via tiny ear pieces.

Robin's voice grew more tense. **"**Way too fast. There has to be a coordinated plan of some kind here. This all started less than ten minutes ago. There has to be a group here."

"Nuh-uh." Cyborg responded. "I've only been picking up one large reading, and it's moving fast. _Very _fast. And it's underground."

"Not good." was Raven's only comment on the matter. She seemed distracted. By something behind them. She kept glancing back.

"No." Robin's voice grew intense. "It's not. Titans! Double time!"

Robin's right hand twisted back, adding more gas to the accelerator in his motorcycle. Cyborg's foot hit the floor, and the other three accelerated accordingly.

Amidst the speed and intensity, Raven continued to glance back.

"Friend-Raven, why do you keep looking behind you?" pried Starfire.

"I saw someone." Raven said with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "He's following us."

"Are you able to do the 'sensing' on him?"

"That" Raven raised an eyebrow. "And I can easily see him behind us. On those buildings to the left." She looked back again.

"I see." Starfire looked back this time. "Hopefully he is of the 'nice' variety."

* * *

The man knew he had been noticed. He knew it was only a matter of time, he just wasn't expecting that it would be instant.

He saw the one in the blue cloak look at him as they first flew by him. She was tracking him. Not only by sight, but by something else as well. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but _something _felt off. He could tell that the blue cloaked one was female by the readings of his Heads Up Display.

He managed to keep a good distance behind the group while keeping pace. He couldn't catch them even if he tried, impressive as his running speed was. He was more focused on keeping them in his sights, seeing where they went. Maybe he could find out what was going on, without drawing too much suspicion. Even though he meant no harm to the group, he didn't want to arouse too much suspicion. He didn't seem to think highly of getting on their bad side. Only the cloaked one seemed to notice him though, and hopefully it will stay that way.

Then the other girl looked at him.

_Shit!_ Thought the cloaked man to himself, not slowing down. He was looking very bad at the moment, maybe even a little awkward. Some guy in a torn brown cloak following them. That's one way to make a first impression, albeit a very bad one. He doubted he looked especially friendly with the freaky looking bow in his hand.

Then again, he wasn't planning on making friends.

* * *

_About 7 blocks left to go. Almost there._ Thought Robin as he gunned the motor even harder. Something as big as this hasn't happened since Tokyo, and even though he tried to keep prepared over the 15 months of nothing...

...he wasn't prepared. Not for this.

"Titans! I don't know what this is, but be prepared for anything. I've assessed the situation as best as I can, and I think I've got a plan."

Raven piped up in his right ear. "Got a plan for that guy following us?"

Robin didn't even blink. "Cyborg?"

"I see him. I think I'll give him a little bit of a warning shot. He doesn't look too friendly." Cyborg pressed a series of keys on the dashboard, and the sonic cannon came out of the back. The target computer locked on to the follower, and the cannon tracked his movements.

Starfire piped up. "Why do we have to meet this person with violence?" she said, opting the peaceful route. "He may wish to do us no harm!"

"And that's why I don't plan on hitting him with a high powered blast." Cyborg said, matter of factly.

He fired the cannon.

* * *

****A large gleam shone from the barrel of the big gun-thing on the back of the musclecar.

_"WARNING! PROJECTILE INCOMING!"_ were the words that flashed across the bottom of the hooded man's Heads Up Display.

* * *

Cyborg's eyes darted back and forth from the screen on his dash to the road. He saw the cloaked man jump swiftly to the side and out of harms way. He disappeared behind the buildings and out of view.

"I think he got the message, scared him a little." Cyborg said, obviously unsure about his decision. "Hope he isn't too sore about that."

"We need to worry about the problem at hand." Robin said, snapping everyone's attention back. "We're entering the danger zone. Get ready..."

The Titans rounded a corner to find the source of the destruction. They stopped dead at what they saw.

A mechanical creature was tearing up the city block. About 15 metres high, it appeared almost humanoid in shape. It's head was elongated, ending in a sharp point at the back of it's head. It's face was also pointed at it's chin, with two thin, glowing orange eyes. There also seemed to be a glowing line in the middle, as if keeping the face together. It's elbows had a large, spike on the outside of the arm. It's hands were giant metal claws, and all of it's main joints, the knees, the shoulders, the elbows, all had a bright, sickly orange glow.

This was new.

"What is THAT?" Raven said in surprisingly calm monotone.

"I don't know." replied Robin, in pure astonishment.

Cyborg was rapidly tapping keys, searching for an answer. "Nothing in the data banks. It's made out of some crazy elements not known to mankind!"

Just then, the screen in the T-Car started getting staticky and unstable.

"And whatever it is, it's messing with my baby's parts!" the anger in his voice was starting to rise.

Starfire kept quiet.

"Whatever it is, we have to stop it." Robin removed his helmet and leapt off of his motorbike. He pointed at the giant creature.

"Titans! Go!"

* * *

A little surprised, but all and all, unhurt, the hooded man resumed his progress via a different route. He jumped to the top of another building to get to where the second explosion came from.

He ran to the end to see a giant, orange glowing, metal creature was fending the five he had dealt with earlier off quite easily. It wasn't 'fending them off' more-so as absolutely dominating them, whenever one approached to attack, it just knocked them back.

There was something about this creature, though. He glanced at his bow, and remembered what his helmet looked like. The look of it. The orange glow of the bow.

It was the same.

If it was the same sort of technology, he might be able to bring that thing down. He may be able to kill it.

He could _help _them.

But why would he? They just shot at him. Maybe they had every reason to, he looked rather inconspicuous. Maybe even suspicious, maybe even _dangerous._

He saw the blue cloaked girl launch a sort of dark energy at the massive beast, to no effect. It knocked her flying.

_They're not doing so well, are they?_

A mechanical man shot a laser from his arm. This did nothing as well, and he was the next to go flying.

_They might know who I am._

A green-skinned human suddenly morphed into a T-rex and rammed the monster. The dinosaur went flying into a nearby building, before morphing back into a human.

_They could be associated with that hellhole. They've got powers. They could take you in on sight. Do you want that?_

A masked man, which he assumed to be the group's leader, threw a set of discs at the mechanical beast. The beast simply turned, picked him up, and threw him across the street.

_Innocent people are getting hurt from this, not just them. Look at all the destruction it's causing. Can you sit and watch this?_

Finally, the girl with the fiery red hair flew up behind the creature, eyes glowing green.

_Wait a minute..._

Balls of green light shone from her hands. As if heaving baseballs, her arms swung at the creature, multiple orbs of green energy hitting the thing.

_...that's a Tamaranean!_

The mechanical monster swung it's claw at the Tamaranean girl, sending her flying to the ground.

He thought for a few more seconds. He looked back at his bow, then at the scene in front of him.

"Now or never."

He reached for the quiver underneath his cloak, drawing a strange sort of arrow. Spearheaded, yet this tip also glowed a sickly orange.

He drew the bow and took aim.

* * *

"Aw man!" Beast Boy yelled in panic. "There's no way to stop this thing! We're doomed!"

"There has to be a way!" Robin yelled in pure frustration. "There has to be."

Cyborg blasted the creature a few times. "This thing doesn't even have any weak points! It's indestructable!"

Then. as if on cue, a beam of light landed in the creature's neck. A second of silence, then an explosion of what appeared to be a thick, orange liquid. The creature roared and stumbled back, damage apparently being done.

Then a person donned in a tattered brown cloak landed in front of them, crouched. He then stood, gazing at the ground. The beast then turned and roared, the faceplate popping open, revealing an orange alien skull.

The force from the roar blew the man's hood down. Revealing his helmet. It seemed futuristic, yet similar to the creature.

"Dude..." Beast Boy said, obviously impressed.

The man tightened his grip on his bow and looked up at the mechanical monstrosity, staring it in the eye.


	3. Chapter 3

**Guess what guys? More authors comments. Ima answer two comments here. I've only gotten three at the time, but I think that's pretty decent considering how recently this was published.**

_**cahill161: "What game was BB playing?"**_

**Gears of Black Ops Modern Duty 3.**

_**Luna J. Darkness: ":3 I like this story. And the RobStar moment. I love how the Titans aren't OOC. Keep up the good work. I was hoping you would add a BBRae moment, like with the RobStar one. Thanks! Peace my fellow peep."**_

**I'd like to again stress that this is NOT a story that is focused on shipping the characters. The only reason that there was a RobStar moment in Chapter 1 was because RobStar is CANON. It's a thing. Unless Trouble in Tokyo lied to me.**

**The third guy was like, constructive criticism. Which is always appreciated, thanks PrestigiousP. **

**As for BBRae, I personally am not a fan of the couple. I don't mean this in a derogatory way towards supporters of the couple, but me personally, I don't see it. BB just doesn't seem like the type for Raven. To me, he seems more like a very close friend to her, rather than a boyfriend.**

**But hey, that's just me. Sorry BBRae-ers. I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise.**

**Also, incase I did a shitty job at describing what the mystery dude's helmet looked like, think Zer0 from Borderlands 2.**

**Leave reviews if you have the time.**

**Onto the story now.**

**-HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

** Chapter 3-Hunter**

The massive, hulking behemoth raised it's metal arm and quickly brought it down on the cloaked man. The cloaked man jumped to the side, easily dodging it. A large collection of dust kicked up around the creature's clawed hand as it hit the street below.

"Uh..." Cyborg said in confusion. "Go new guy?"

The mystery man landed. He quickly looked back up at the monster, preparing for whatever it was going to do next.

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head. "The hell is this?"

The smooth, metal creature raised it's arm a second time. The cloaked man thrust his right hand at the beast's arm. His hand was curled into a fist, and on his wrist was a square-shaped bracelet sort of device, with a glowing blue circle in the middle. At the front end of the device, another glowing blue light shone from a sort of slot.

A long, glowing blue, rope-like beam shot out of the device and attached to the behemoth's raised arm, connecting to where the arm meets the shoulder.

"The hell is that?" Beast Boy said, shocked.

The man secured his footing, putting one foot out in front of the other. He then twisted his torso to the right, swinging his arm around as he did so. The creature's arm disconnected from the shoulder with an explosion of thick, glowing orange liquid. The creature recoiled and howled. Either in anger or pain.

Everyone's jaw seemed to drop at this. The man seemed to be surprised himself, looking down at his hand as the glowing blue ray slid back into the brace. He looked down at the beast's arm, then quickly looked back up at the creature as it toppled to it's side, writhing.

He then threw his arm around to his back, which made the cloak fly off of him completely. On his torso, he had a black, loose fitting sort of jump suit with red markings along the chest. The sleeves were cut off from his shoulders. A black belt with a glowing red stripe was wrapped around his waist, and he had on a black set of pants which matched his torso. On his back he had a quiver with what appeared to be three different kinds of arrows. But each slot only seemed to have one arrow in them. He reached his right hand to his quiver, left hand on his bow. He grabbed a bow from the slot, and another arrow instantly materialized in it's place in an orange ray.

"The hell are those?" Beast Boy said, pointing at the arrows.  
He drew the bow, pulled the string back, waited until the beast was upright again, and let fly.

The arrow was in the air for about half a second before it sunk into the chest of the behemoth. Another half a second of silence occurred before an orange glow began to protrude from the tip of the arrow. It got bigger and bigger, before quickly sinking back into the tip.

The beast roared.

Then, the creature was sent stumbling backwards by a golden explosion from it's chest. More orange goo spewed out from the affected area. The mystery man then switched to a different arrow, and fired near it's head. It wasn't as devastating, but it had it's effects. It made a small flash, and a spray of the liquid on impact. He kept on firing arrow after arrow, the monster recoiling when each arrow made it's explosive impact. All the while, the creature swung it's arms at the man, trying to hit him. He dodged these with ease, with the assortment of flips and jumps.

Robin's eyes narrowed. "The goo coming from the arrows. It's the same as the goo that came from the creature when it's arm got ripped off." A tinge of fascination came to his voice. "They're the same."

The cloaked man fired one last arrow right between the eyes of the behemoth, this made it stumble back. It had taken enough abuse. It was done.

The man thrust his wrist at the creature again. This time, it made connection with the thing's face. He got down on one knee and pulled, bringing the beast down on it's face with a crash, sending dust into the air.

Cyborg stood, eyes wide and mouth agape. "That just happened."

The mystery man then stood, gaze fixed down to the ground. Amongst the dust, and the body of the monster, he looked quite majestic, mysterious, and-as Beast Boy would put it-'bad ass".

The man was in absolute shock at what he had just done. He felt proud of himself, that was for sure.

The massive body then dissolved into more glowing orange liquid, which then sunk into the ground, leaving no trace.

He turned to the group of five behind them. The mechanical man approached him, smiling.

"Yo, man. That was awesome!" the cyborg said to him. "Hot damn! Oh, and if it means anything, sorry about shooting you back there." a massive, apologetic grin came across his face.

His only response was to give a short nod. He figured it would be better if he didn't speak, just in case they were with them. They didn't seem to be, but he couldn't be too careful.

_'They don't seem like they're from GenLABS...'_

"So," the guy with the mask, the leader, approached him this time. "You got a name?"

He kept quiet, thinking to himself, not taking his gaze off of the masked youth before him. A million 'what-if' scenarios flew around inside of his head. Paranoia, mistrust, caution. They probably weren't associated with GenLABS, but he couldn't ever be _too _careful.

GenLABS was a place he never wanted to go back to.

He'd rather keep wandering.

He'd rather die.

He argued with himself in his head.

_'Go on, Tyler. Tell him your name.'_

_'But what if he's-'_

_'Seriously? You're ACTUALLY considering that?'_

_'Well, yeah.'_

_'If GenLABS sent them, and they knew who you were, they would've taken you in on sight! Besides, you helped them! And the robot guy only shot at you because you looked suspicious!'_

_'He DID apologize.'_

_'Yeah.'_

_'That was nice of him.'_

_'It was. And that's proof they're not with GenLABS! They're good people. They're not looking for you. They could give you shelter. A home.'_

_'That's what Fred and Donna told me...'_

_'But it wasn't their fault that happened!_

_'That's what HE told me too...'_

_'That's in the past now!'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

Those words-'better safe than sorry'. Those four words he repeated to himself for the longest time. Those four DAMNED words filled both sides of his mind with paranoia. He couldn't trust them. He _wouldn't _trust them.

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'Just in case.'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'You can't be too sure!'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'Bug out!'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'Book it!'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'Run, Tyler.'_

_'Better safe than sorry.'_

_'RUN!'_

* * *

Robin stood, awaiting an answer.

"Uh..." Beast Boy leaned to Raven, pointing a thumb at the mystery man. "Is he, like, okay?"

"I dunno..." replied Raven, deep in thought.

"He is 'the weird', yes?' Starfire asked with her trademark innocence.

"Either that or he doesn't know what a name is." Cyborg added, shrugging.

"Either that," Raven answered sarcastically. "or he doesn't want to tell us."

"Why wouldn't he? He was awesome out there!" Beast Boy exclaimed with a smile.

"He was indeed 'bad-ass.'" Starfire replied, obviously unfamiliar with the term.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Are...you okay?"

The helmeted man looked off to his side, then back at Robin with an intensity that could easily be seen through his helmet.

"No." he replied in a gruff voice before he ran off, leaping over a wall.

The Titans were silent for a moment, staring off in the direction he went.

"Oooooookay." said Cyborg, obviously confused.

"That was strange." Robin added. "He's obviously got some issues."

Naturally, Starfire tried to see the best in the man. "He brought down the-" she paused. "-monster when none of us could."

"Aw man." Beast Boy's shoulders slumped, and his head sank. "Now we're never gonna figure out who that guy is." Beast Boy obviously wanted to meet him.

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Hold on. I got him." she said in a highly serious tone.

Robin interjected. "Raven. I don't think that's necessa-"

It was too late, she was already in the air, flying in the direction the man went.

* * *

Tyler ran until he was absolutely sure he had lost them. He made his way into a rather large large alleyway, with about 18 feet of space between the two sides. He stopped to gather his thoughts. The left and right side of his brain started bickering again.

_'Nice. Now they think you've got mental problems.'_

_'So? You're probably never gonna see them again. You got in there. You saved those guys. You saved the Tamaranean. You did what you wanted to do.'_

_'I suppose.'_

_'Why did the Tamaranean make you want to jump in there, anyway?'_

_'I dunno. Because she's a Tamaranean? They're cool. You don't see many of them here on Earth. Didn't want to see her, well, die.'_

_'Preserve the species? Technically, Tamaraneans are endangered here.'_

_'Save the Tamaraneans.'_

_'Do your part.'_

_'Stop global warming.'_

He snickered to himself.

* * *

Hood donned, her cloak rippling behind her. Raven flew low over the city, closely following the 'trail' of emotion left behind by the mystery man. Being an empath, she could sense other people's emotion, and this person was unstable. In him she sensed paranoia, fear, sadness, _anger. _It was tearing him apart, she could sense that too.

Raven wanted to find this guy, mostly to satisfy her own curiosity. She spotted this guy following them earlier, and then he came back and handed that beast it's glowing, metal ass. She was surprised she was the only one who went after him.

_'Wait...' _she focused. _'He's stopped moving.'_

She zeroed in on him. He wasn't very far away.

She sped up, heading towards a large, dark alleyway.

* * *

Tyler slid his back down against the wall, and sat. He put his still helmeted head in his hands, let out a harsh breath, and put his head against the wall. The fear and paranoia from ten minutes ago was starting to wear off, instead being replaced with pride at easily taking down that beasty. He smiled a large, genuinely happy grin. Something he hadn't done in months.

"You there!" a female called to him from across the hallway.

It was the blue cloaked one. She followed him here.

Still sitting, he backed away a few feet, scooching across the ground away from her. It was then that he jumped to his feet, his bow drawn, hand reaching back for his quiver.

"Relax." she spoke softly. She pulled her hood down, revealing a pale face with indigo hair which came down to her shoulders. Her eyes were the same colour, and -along with her hair- matched her cloak perfectly. Along her body, her cloak slightly opened, revealing her leotard. "I mean you no harm."

_'Well. Isn't she pretty?'_

_'God dammit! Focus!'_

_'What? She is.'_

_'Doesn't matter.'_

_'Look at those legs...'_

_'FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, TYLER! REALLY?'_

He turned to run, but a wall of black energy appeared in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks.

_'Annnnnnnd there we go. She's got us cornered. She's gonna be on us any second.'_

_'That can be taken two ways.'_

_'ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?'_

No where to run. He slowly turned to face the girl. She gave him a slight, reassuring smile.

_'I think we can trust her.'_

_'But what if she's luring us into a false state of security, only to have us tied to a dentists chair while she sucks out our brains with a mega-straw to take back to GenLABS so they can make clone us?'_

_'I think if she wanted to hurt us, she would've done so by now.'_

He relaxed himself. Still facing the black wall, he lowered his shoulders, and had his bow retract to it's concealed form. He looked back at her from over his shoulder, and he slowly turned to face her, not saying a word.

She kept her smile and slowly walked towards him. Just then, the other four people showed up, the masked man being carried by the Tamaranean, the cyborg being carried by that pterodactyl, which morphed back into the green humanoid. They all landed behind the blue-haired girl.

"Raven-" the masked one started.

She looked back at him. A look that made Robin shut up right there. A look that said 'don't interfere'.

She looked back at Tyler. Smile forming again, she spoke again. "Let's try this again. You got a name?"

He kept her glance for a second, looked at the group behind her, then back to her.

_'Out with it. They're trustworthy. SHE'S trustworthy.'_

He spoke with a rough, growling sort of voice. Yet, it still sounded youthful. He couldn't be any older than Robin.

"Yeah. Tyler."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Comments:**

**Jesus Christ, that was a terrible ending to Chapter 3. It took all of the momentum I had manage to build up, and stop it dead. Sorry, it was late and I wanted to sleep. 'Late' is a matter of opinion though, as it was like 9:30 PM and I have to get up for work at like, 5:30 AM. Even if it's my day off the next day, I'll still go to bed at that time, because of the whole routine I'm in my body gets really tired around 9:00-ish.**

**I work at a golf course, where I handle balls for minimum wage.**

**Yes, I know how that sounded.**

**Yes, it was intentional.**

**So yeah, the mystery dude's name is Tyler. That's it. No big, alien name or fancy warrior title. Just Tyler.**

**One, it's my own name so it's easy to remember(lol). Two, it's not too generic, ya know? It's not generic in the term that's it not an overdone simple name, such as "Joe", or "Frank", and it's not a generic cool name like "Blade", or "Zorgath", or "William Breadwater." I should also add that, now that he's gonna be introduced to the Titans the whole 'switching points-of-view thing should be toned down considerably, if not removed completely in later chapters.**

**Also, thanks so much for all of the stellar reviews! I wasn't expecting so much positive feedback. Seriously, it makes my day and I truly appreciate it.**

**P.S. the chapter titles don't have any relevance to the actual chapter. I just pick a cool sounding word and plop it in there. Also, mass character development and backstory ahead.**

**Cheers.**

**-HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

**Chapter 4-Requiem**

"There, see? Was that so hard?" Raven said to Tyler with a soft, yet teasing tone. She kept her soft smile, further reassuring him that she meant him no harm.

"Tyler? Kinda plain, considering." Cyborg added with a shrug.

Raven held out a hand. "My name's Raven."

He took her hand and shook it lightly, giving her a short nod as a greeting.

Robin approached Tyler next, moving beside Raven. He wore an impressed smirk on his face.

"I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans." he said, proving Tyler's 'leader' theory right. "That was quite impressive back there. Glad we're not on your bad side."

Starfire quickly flew up to Tyler, a large grin on her face. He recoiled at the sudden amount of Tamaranean in his face as she took his right hand in hers.

"And I am Starfire, the girlfriend of Robin. I am quite pleased to make your acquaintance." Her eyes shut quickly, her grin getting even bigger at the possibility of a new friend. She released his hand, which ached slightly afterwards.

Tyler looked at her, then at Robin.

"She's taller than you." he said with a sort of deadpan sarcasm that nearly resembled Raven's.

Robin's eyebrow raised, smirk going away. Starfire giggled as the rest of Titans snickered at this. Except Raven, who kept a blank expression.

"I think I like this guy." Cyborg said, being the next one to approach Tyler. "Name's Cyborg." He held out his hand for a handshake, which Tyler promptly gave. "And I know I said this already, but again, I'm sorry for shooting at you back there."

"No problem." Tyler responded in that rough, gravelly voice of his.

_That's obviously not his real voice._ Robin thought to himself.

Finally, Beast Boy walked up, eyes beaming as if he had met a celebrity.

"Dude! You were awesome out there!" He exclaimed. "I'm Beast Boy, but you can me BB, Gar, Alpha, Omega, or King Awesome!"

Tyler nodded again. "Thanks, King Awesome." He said in a non-chalante tone.

Beast Boy stepped back, joining the other four.

Tyler looked back at Robin. "Is that it then?"

"Not quite." Robin took three steps forward towards him.

Tyler kept his gaze locked on the Boy Wonder, giving him his full attention.

"You..." Robin paused, looking for a good way to word the question. "...wanna come back to the Tower with us?"

Tyler looked down to his side in thought, registering what he just heard, then looked back at Robin.

"What?"

"Why? You got some place better?"

Tyler's eyes drifted to the ground, a rush of terrible memories flooding into his brain. His right hand curled into a tight fist.

"No." he paused. "I don't have anything."

"It's settled, then." Robin smiled, placing a hand on Tyler's shoulder. "You're coming with us."

"Provided you've got a face!" Cyborg chimed, grin on his face as he turned around, making his way back to the T-Car "Here, I'll give you a ride."

Beast Boy turned into an eagle and started to fly towards the T-Tower. Robin and Starfire exchanged a quick kiss before she flew off, and Robin quickly walked to his bike.

Tyler looked back again at Raven, who gave him another reassuring smile. He nodded yet again, and she was next to take off in flight. He looked back at her in the air, still somewhat unnerved by the notion of people just casually taking flight before following Cyborg back to the T-Car.

Tyler was rather silent on the way to the T-Tower, aside from the short and simple answers to Cyborg's near sad attempts at small talk.

"So, uh." Cyborg started, trying yet again to have a cohesive conversation with Tyler. "You like music?"

"Yeah, of course." he said, the back of his helmeted head laying against the seat, head turned to the side window.

"You're in luck then!" he said, a tinge of excitement coming to his voice at what might be an actual gateway to further conversation. "Because Cyborg here's got just what you need."

Cyborg tapped a button on the dash, and waited a second before pushing another button. Suddenly, some techno-hip hop song started loudly playing, making the vehicle seem to rumble to the beat.

"Aww Yeah!" Cyborg said, getting way into his music. "This right here's my song, yo!"

Tyler stayed silent for a few seconds, still gazing out the window. He then sat up straight, and looked at Cyborg.

"You got any Metallica?"

* * *

The sky was long blackened from night by the time the five Titans and their visitor entered the common room. The fight with the creature lasted a while. That, as well as explaining the situation to the police and straightening things out, consumed a great deal of time. Beast Boy ran straight to the fridge as Cyborg let out a loud yawn.

"Well, I'm gonna turn in early." He said, stretching his arms above his head.

Robin glanced at the clock, which read 10:30 PM.

"I think it's a good idea if we all do so." Robin added.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy replied, voice squeaking a little. "I was gonna have us do a horror marathon!" He then held up five different DVDs.

"Guess you'll have to watch 'em in your room, BB." Cyborg replied, placing a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder in mock sympathy.

"Ugh." Raven added, approaching Beast Boy. "I'm probably gonna be kept up all night from the obnoxious screams of terrible teen actors. Wonderful."

Beast Boy blushed a little in embarrassment. "I'll try to keep it down tonight. I promise." An apologetic grin came across his face.

"You better." Raven began to head to the elevator in the common room. "Otherwise I'll trap you in a book where you'll be subjected to the brutal maulings of 5-story tall dragons."

She entered the elevator, turned towards the group, and gave another subtle nod at Tyler as the elevator raised.

There was silence for a few more seconds.

"Well, that's Raven." Beast Boy said in mock happiness. "Our big ray of sunshine."

Tyler gave a slight scoff. "I'll bet."

Starfire approached Tyler's side, her regular smile on her face. "Worry not, friend-Tyler, she is just making 'the joke' at Beast Boy." Her smile went away. "I think."

Tyler quickly looked back at Starfire in what appeared to be slight concern, then at Cyborg.

"What? Can she do that?" He asked, the nervous tone in his voice completely contradicted the 'tough-guy' voice he seemed to have, almost comically so.

Cyborg just shrugged.

Robin tried to change the subject. "So, Cyborg. Have we got a room for Tyler?"

"I..." Cyborg paused. '...I don't know." He thought for a few more seconds.

He gathered his thoughts. "The gaming room..." He paused again. "...the 'former' gaming room, is empty after it exploded due to the electrical overload 3 months ago. Should be fine."

"That wasn't my fault, by the way!" Beast Boy added,

Tyler looked back at Robin. "You're sure?"

"Of course." Robin reassured him. "You're more than welcome here."

"Oh, very much so!" Starfire piped in. "Especially after you defeated the...terrible monster which I know nothing of!" she gave a massive, cheesy grin.

"Alrighty." Cyborg said. "Follow me. I'll show you to your room."

* * *

Cyborg and Tyler headed to the 'former' game room on the top floor. They were mostly silent the whole way, mostly due to tiredness. They finally stopped in front of a burned door with a scorched sign that read "Game Room."

"Here we are." Cyborg said, tapping a control panel beside the door. The door slid open.

"Thanks." said Tyler, quickly stepping inside.

"But you have to answer me one thing, though. Before you go in." Added Cyborg with a grin.

Tyler turned, his helmet almost gleaming from the lights on the ceiling.

"Does this thing come off?" Cyborg playfully tapped the front of Tyler's helmet.

He stayed silent.

Finally, he spoke. "Yeah, It does." he pressed the 'close' button on his side of the door, and the door quickly shut in Cyborg's face.

Cyborg stood there for a few seconds.

"Must have a zit or somethin'." He jokingly commented before walking away.

* * *

Tyler sat at the edge of his bed, back straight, hands on his knees. He was taking the events of the day in, still in disbelief. It had been a hell of a time this past few hours. And now he had a bed to sleep in. Things were really looking up. He was getting more and more comfortable here with every minute, he thought he could start acting like himself again.

He knew he wasn't going to get to sleep. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in god knows how long, so 'no sleep' kind of developed into his sleep pattern. Sleep was more of a bonus now, he didn't need to sleep. Not the way he is now.

So he did what he did every night. He closed his eyes, and cleared his mind as an ice-cold sensation filled the back of his head for a second. Suddenly, he was pulled into an archive of a wealth of information, about an infinite amount of topics. It had information on just about anything in the universe, and he had access to all of it. But the most incredible aspect of it all was _how _he absorbed the information. He wasn't just reading walls of text, or viewing photos. He was actually _flying _through the database, being able to 'download' information directly into his cerebral cortex and into his brain at will. It was an incredible experience, both visually and mentally.

It was how he knew of Starfire's race. This helmet, it seemed, had an incredibly large archive on the species. It was easily the biggest log in the helmet's database, even going into their emotion-driven powers, strengths and weaknesses, even biology. He wasn't sure why this device had that sort of information on the species, he wasn't planning on fighting any.

Tyler delved deeper on the Tamaraneans, seeing if this one he had met, 'Starfire', had any significance.

_A princess..._

_Taken prisoner at 16..._

_Koriand'r..._

Eyes closed and mind empty, he became fully immersed. So immersed, in fact, that he failed to notice Raven appear directly in front of him in a phase of black energy.

She spoke in a loud, urgent tone. "You!"

Tyler yelled in surprise as he fell backwards, arms flailing in a highly comedic fashion. He propped himself up on his elbows. "What? How did you even-"

"The other's might have accepted you already, considered you trustworthy. But me, I'm not like that."

Tyler got his bearings back, and sat on the side of his bed. "I noticed." he answered in deadpan sarcasm, the rough, gravelly voice starting to fade.

"The reason why I sought you out earlier wasn't out of kindness."

"Oh, yeah?"

"It was to find out more about you."

"I'm flattered that you find me that interesting."

"I don't trust you."

"You have no reason to."

"For all I know you could be a low-life scumbag who was sent to infiltrate the tower and find out information about us."

"Ouch."

"Or you could backstab us..." She looked down, and said at an almost inaudible volume. "...like Terra."

"Who?"

"Nevermind. I came here now to find out said information."

"You were a lot nicer three hours ago."

"I was in a better mood three hours ago."

"Past your bedtime?"

Raven was taken aback slightly by Tyler's sudden change in attitude. Before he was quiet, and barely spoke. And when he did, it was in that 'tough-guy' voice, in short sound-bytes.

Now, he was showing his fluency in the language of sarcasm. Something she was very familiar with, herself.

"Just...tell me what I want to know. And don't lie, I can sense when you're lying."

Tyler stood from his bed, and walked over in front of Raven. He crossed his arms.

"Shoot."

Raven paused. She actually hadn't thought of anything.

"Well?" he pressed on.

Then she thought of something.

"First thing's first." she said, pointing to his head. "This thing. Off."

"It doesn't really come 'off'..." he started.

"'Off', whatever it is, just-"

She was interrupted by a slight hissing sound. A white, glowing line shone vertically down the middle of Tyler's domed helmet. The two sides then slid away from each other, a sound of sliding metal coming from the helmet, revealing his face. The parts of the helmet slid around his whole head, disappearing behind his neck. He looked around 16, yet very unkempt. His brown hair was curly and short, yet heavily matted and messy. A rough and spotty five-o-clock shadow that seemed to be shaved earlier with a sort of makeshift razor. His eyes were brown, matching the color of his hair, and behind those eyes was a long time of pain. Pure anger and sorrow.

"There. Happy?" Tyler said, nary a smile upon his lips.

"Where did-?" Raven responded in shock at what she just saw, pointing at his neck. "Where did the helmet thing go?"

"Right back here." He responded, turning around. He pointed with his thumb to the back of his neck, which had a silver and black recreation of a human spine. It had along each gap in the plates, it had a sickly orange glow, exactly like the monster from before. All around the top end were slots where the actual helmet came out of, and around the bottom portion of the back of his head, the back of the helmet came around his jaw to the mid jawline. The rest of the mechanical spine was hidden beneath his jumpsuit. He turned back around to face Raven.

"How...?" Raven asked to herself.

The helmet suddenly slid back around his face in less than half a second. A sudden, blunt noise highly similar to that of sharpening knives came from the helmet.

Raven made a high pitched yelp, nearly jumping out of her skin at this.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he said as he made the helmet slide back around his head, into the spine. A shit-eating smirk on his face.

"How are you making it do that?" she said, still unnerved by the scare.

"It's attached to my central nervous system. I'm doing it by thinking it."

"How did you get it?"

"I found it."

"You...found it?" said Raven, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. It latched onto my spine, pierced it, then buried itself in my cerebral cortex or whatever."

Raven winced.

Tyler continued. "I found this too." He stuck out his wrist-device. "Along with the bow, same place as the helmet. I don't know what it is, but it's literally a part of me. Plus, it's pretty cool."

"How did you survive that?" Asked Raven, now genuinely interested in his story.

Tyler looked down at the ground, the earlier roughness of his voice completely gone. "There was a research team surveying the artifacts, they were in a shrine of some sort. I was wandering around that sort of area, early in the morning while the team was sleeping. I put the bracelet-which I call the 'Tether'-on, I was checking out the bow, then I tried to put the helmet on. When I placed it on my head, It pierced through my spine, which hurt more than anything in the world. Then it buried in my central nervous system, which was the most indescribable pain of all time."

Raven nodded, pressing him to continue.

"The commotion woke up the research team, who came to my aid. Turns out, they were part of a classified group known as 'GenLabs'. They were working on this top-secret government super-soldier program. The 'Hunter' project, where they were developing genetic augmentations for the mind and body, to create soldiers for the US military. They took me back to the labs, and injected me with these prototypes of the augmentation drugs so I could survive. They gave me the mind augmentation so my brain could handle having the helmet in my nervous system. This, in turn greatly improved my reaction time and it allows me to focus on something harder than a normal human can. Then they gave me the physical augmentation so my body could handle the damage done to it by the helmet piercing my spine the way it did. This gave me the ability to lift up to five tonnes, and increased my agility. Two researchers, husband and wife, Fred and Donna kept me a secret from the head of the project and cared for me there for a good six months. They taught me self defense, in case I was discovered. They also taught me the gymnastics moves I was using earlier..."

He looked down at the ground, his eyes becoming glossy as if to burst into tears at any moment.

"...then some shit happened and the guy who was running the project, Kale Forenzik found out about me. Fred and Donna were killed in a lab 'accident', and I was taken in. Turns out, I was the first successful 'subject' of the augmentations. He locked me in a cell, performed experiments on me while I was strapped to a surgery chair, and basically treated me like a lab rat for a total of four months. Then, I managed to escape. I've been on the run for three weeks, I came across Jump City. Then I ran into you guys. I haven't seem a trace of them for a week and a half. I think they've given up. Hopefully, they have."

He breathed in heavily, holding back the urge to scream.

"And yeah." He said, letting out the breath. "That do it for you?"

"Um." Raven said, in disbelief at his story. "Yeah. Thanks." Her soft smile returned.

"No problem. Hopefully that sorts everything out." He returned the smile.

"It does." She nodded at him. "Good night."

"It's Raven, right?" He asked.

"Right." She kept her smile.

"Night, Raven.' He said rather nicely.

She disappeared from the room, leaving him to himself. He sighed to himself and smiled. He felt as if a weight had been lifted after telling his story. He glanced at the clock, which read 12:15 AM.

"Man. That was a lot longer than I thought." He said to himself.

_Aww. Did the time fly with her around._

_Shut up._

He lied back down on his bed, and almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Comments:**

**So, I just finished getting my wisdom teeth removed, and I'm currently doped up on whatever the orthodontists gave me for sedation. I can't feel half of my face, my legs are weak as hell and barely work right, and the inside of my mouth hurts.**

**I was about 75% done the story when I got it, so if the quality of the writing drops, it's because I'm currently higher than giraffe balls on the sedation medication, and it's a bloody miracle that I can form a cohesive sentence. I felt I should put that here in the author's comments. **

**I should point out that I'm gonna be using some dialogue to reveal my personal thoughts on Terra in this chapter. Thought that would get some people interested, considering how infamous she is. I also had to watch the episode 'Terra' a couple of times in order to get an idea of the Titan's obstacle course.**

**Also, the series finale for Arby n The Chief came out last Saturday.**

**I fucking cried.**

**It made me cry.**

**God dammit JonCJG you glorious bastard, you made me cry.**

**Thanks for the 6 years of laughs and antics with Arby n The Chief, Jon. You are a magnificent writer and director. Best of luck on your hopes of getting the big film career, and I'll be first in line to see the movies you've written.**

**Cheers.**

**(Also, enjoy the chapter)**

**-HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

**Chapter 5-Hero of the Day**

_7 Hours Earlier..._

Raven slammed both of her palms down on on the kitchen counter in frustration.

"I'm telling you, he's not trustworthy!" she said, barely maintaining her calm exterior.

Robin stood on the other side of the counter, arms crossed.

"And what makes you say that?" he responded. "Do you have a viable reason?"

Raven closed her eyes and sighed. "I-no. It's just..."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "It's just what?"

"I just don't want a repeat of what happened with Terra." she looked down at the ground. "You know?"

Robin gave her a soft smile. "Raven, I know you're just thinking about what's best for the team, but you've gotta let bygones be bygones. I understand that it may not be that easy for you, but you gotta learn to have more faith in people."

Raven looked back up at Robin, still not reassured.

"Besides, Terra was scared and confused. She was vulnerable, and Slade ended up taking advantage of that and lured her in. It's not completely her fault."

"Still, it was her decision! We offered to take her in, and she ran!"

"I'll take the blame for that." Robin looked a little guilty. "She thought Beast Boy broke his promise to her when I said something about her control over her powers."

"She's responsible for her own actions." Raven raised her voice slightly.

Robin stared Raven in the eyes, unnerved.

"If you found Slade instead of us, and he offered you control over your powers, would you have made the same decision?"

Raven didn't expect that. Her eyes widened, then narrowed as she stared back at the ground. She was silent. Robin's words hat hit home.

"Listen," Robin continued, his soft tone returning. "I'm very sure about Tyler. It's obvious he's been through some crazy shit. He doesn't even fully trust _us. _He needs friends. He needs a home."

Raven looked back up at Robin.

"That's exactly what we said about Terra."

"Tyler doesn't seem to have any powers to lose control of, anyways. Plus, I doubt Slade'll come back to recruit him. The only way I can see him turning on us is if we give him a reason to. He's incredibly paranoid."

Raven gave him a smirk. "You were always good at reading people."

"Bruce taught me a lot." Robin returned the smirk.

"But in all seriousness, we haven't known Tyler for 12 hours and you're already considering recruiting him to the Titans?" Raven got serious again.

"He helped us when he had no reason to. He brought down that creature when we couldn't. Plus, what he showed us in battle was rather impressive."

"Still, he's not talking much. He was uneasy when we were explaining the situation to the police earlier, I could sense it. He's acting like he's hiding from something, like he's done something and he doesn't want to be caught."

"Come on, Raven."

Raven crossed her arms, keeping her stone cold gaze. She wasn't changing her mind.

Robin sighed.

"Fine. You can ask him as much as you want tomorrow. I'll ask him questions, myself, and I'll run him through the obstacle course."

"I think I'll do it now."

"And wake him up?"

"He's not sleeping. He seems to be really focused though."

"It's still rude to disturb him."

"I really don't care." she began to walk to the elevator.

"How long have you been observing him?" Robin stood outside the elevator, arms crossed.

"Since I first saw him."

Robin chuckled and shook his head. "You really are something else, you know that?"

Raven shrugged. "Well. Yeah."

The elevator doors closed, and it began it's ascent to the top floor.

* * *

"ROBIN!" Cyborg yelled from the kitchen. 'HELP!"

Robin vaulted over the couch which he was sitting on, and ran to Cyborg. "I'm here Cyborg! What's wrong?"

He stopped, then snickered.

"Cyborg." He said, trying to keep a straight face. "How did you get your hand stuck in the microwave?"

"DON'T ASK QUESTIONS!" Cyborg's frustration was growing quickly, as he was attempting to yank his hand out. "JUST HELP!"

Robin approached Cyborg carefully, trying not to grab him in an awkward way.

"Um, Cyborg? I'm gonna have to do something really awkward."

"Just do it!"

Without missing a beat, Robin straddled Cyborg's waist.

"Okay, Cyborg! On three! One, two, three, PULL!"

With Robin's chest pressed right up against Cyborg's metal back, they both pulled.

No dice.

They tried again.

Cyborg's hand was still in the microwave oven.

"This ain't workin'." Cyborg commented.

"We're just not pulling hard enough. Try again. On three! One...two...THREE!"

Just then, Raven entered the common room, took three steps in and stopped, a blank stare on her face as she assessed the situation.

"I'm not even going to ask." she said as she continued to the kitchen.

"Um..." Cyborg said to Raven, an embarrassed yet pleading look on his face. "...little help?"

Raven got the kettle going for her tea, then turned to face Cyborg. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." she said in an incredibly bored tone.

An aura of dark energy surrounded the microwave. In a second, Robin and Cyborg were sent flying to the center of the common room, screaming all the while.

Raven managed only a smirk as her tea finished, which she took to the couch.

Cyborg picked himself off of Robin and brushed himself off. Robin was still on the floor, comically gasping for the air that was so painfully knocked out of him.

"A little overkill there, Rae." Cyborg said.

"That was the point." replied Raven, pulling up her hood, then opening a book as she hovered slightly above the couch.

* * *

Tyler woke up, and looked around the room in confusion, then he remembered the previous night. He was then struck with pleasant surprise at the notion that he slept the whole night. He hadn't done that in months, and it felt amazing.

"I needed this." he said quietly to himself.

He sat on the side of his bed, he was shirtless while wearing the pajama pants the Titans provided for him. He stood up, and stretched.

"Aaaahhhhh, I needed this." he said as he stretched.

He picked up his jumpsuit, and left it on the side of his bed for Starfire to wash, which Cyborg told him to do.

He grabbed the blank blue shirt given to him of of the floor, crudely folded and crumpled it into a ball, and headed out the door to the hall.

Robin's voice rang in his head.

_'The showers are free for you to use...'_

He hesitated at first, thinking it to be somewhat awkward for whatever reason. The idea of a hot shower quickly kicked those thoughts out of his mind. Robin pointed out the nearest washroom, and he headed in that direction.

He made it into the washroom. After donning his birthday suit, he turned the shower knob. Using his hand to test the temperature of the stream of water that came from the shower head, he stepped in when he deemed the heat appropriate. He faced away from the shower head and let the warm water hit the top of his head, and run down his neck and back. He let out a loud groan in pure ecstasy, this was something he had not felt for almost 5 whole months. He closed his eyes and let his head lower, the metallic spine bending with his neck.

"I definitely needed this..." he said in a relaxed whisper.

He let out another loud groan. Perhaps, too loud, as Starfire, who happened to be floating down the hall at this moment after grabbing Tyler's jumpsuit from his room, heard this. She floated up to the bathroom door, and cocked her head to the side in innocent curiosity.

"Friend-Tyler, are you 'alright'?" she asked.

There was silence for a second or two.

"Uh. Yeah." He said, obviously feeling awkward.

"I heard a groaning noise coming from the 'room of baths'."

"Seriously. I'm fine, Star...flame? Firestar?"

"Starfire."

"Starfire! Thanks. But yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Go away please."

"Are you engaging in the 'Baiting of the Master'?"

There was five seconds of silence as Tyler registered what he had just heard.

"What the fu-? No!" Tyler said, appalled. "Why would you even-?"

"I am sorry! I will leave you to the showering!" Starfire said as she quickly flew off down the hallway.

* * *

Robin and Cyborg were sitting on the couch, watching Star Trek: The Next Generation while Raven was meditating on the roof.

"You know." Robin pointed to the screen. "I don't think Patrick Stewart ages."

Starfire then floated into the room.

"Hello, friends! I hope you all have had the most pleasant of sleeps!" she shouted.

"I know I did! Thanks, Star." replied Cyborg, who made sure to thank her every morning for her typical acknowledgement.

Starfire flew over to Robin and hugged him tightly, which Robin promptly returned.

At least they're only hugging this time. Cyborg thought.

She then flew to make some sort of strange Tamaranean meal that they'll have to sample at some point.

Tyler then entered the room, with pajama pants and a blue t-shirt back on, his helmet off. He looked around the common room, and stepped in awkwardly.

"Hello." he said, rather quietly, the roughness he previously had in his voice completely gone.

Robin looked back, instantly realizing who it was. "Hey there. Decided to show your face, huh?"

Cyborg looked back at Tyler. A look of shock and confusion came on his face.

"Who's this guy?"

"That's Tyler, Cyborg. He just doesn't have his helmet on." Robin replied.

"Oh. Hey there." Cyborg added.

Tyler gave Cyborg a slight smile. Then recoiled as Starfire flew in his face.

"Oh, glorious! You have a face!" Starfire shouted in her signature happiness.

Tyler gave a small smile, and nodded at Starfire. He was doing that a lot lately.

Just then, Beast Boy walked into the common room, barely awake. He stopped to the left of Tyler, looked at him, and shrieked.

"INTRUDER!" yelled Beast Boy, obviously not recognizing Tyler without the helmet.

"Beast Boy, calm dow-" Robin tried to interject.

It was too late, Beast Boy morphed into a lion and took a swipe at Tyler, who quickly jumped with a backflip across the room. Beast Boy roared at this. Tyler landed in front of the TV, one knee bent and one straight out to his side, his left arm bent above his head and his right palm against the floor. His helmet slid back on his face with a knife-sharpening sound, and he looked up at the green lion, still in his landing stance.

Beast Boy's eyes widened, recognizing who this person was now that the helmet was on. He changed back into his human form, a sheepish look on his face.

"Heh, heh." His eyes shut, and his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. He put his hand behind his head. "Sorry."

Tyler stood back up, not taking his eyes off of Beast Boy. His helmet slid back, revealing his face again. Raven floated down from the roof, looking very annoyed.

"WHAT is going on down here." she said, trying not to lose her cool.

"'Animal Kingdom' over there just tried to maul me." Tyler replied. Everyone in the room seemed to be taken off guard by this comment.

Raven just shrugged, and sat in her usual spot on the couch.

"Speaking of animals!" Cyborg added. "There's leftover breakfast in the fridge if you want it."

Beast Boy walked over to Cyborg and promptly smacked him upside the head for that statement.

"You're sure?" Tyler said, glancing at Cyborg.

Tyler went and opened the fridge, sure enough there were bacon and eggs wrapped neatly in plastic wrap. He grabbed it and looked at it, as if not sure what to do with it.

"Um. Thanks." He said, and managed a small, grateful smile.

"So." Beast Boy continued. "What's on the agenda for today, boss?"

Robin looked at Tyler and smirked. "We're gonna run our new friend, here through the course."

* * *

Tyler was in a dark room, standing behind a giant metal door, waiting for it to open. Robin had explained the course earlier, and asked him some questions about where he came from, where he got his technology, how it works. Basically everything Raven had asked him the night before. He answered accordingly, then Robin sent him down here.

'We'll talk some more later.' Robin had said as Tyler rid the elevator down to the starting gate.

Tyler zoned out for a few seconds before Robin's voice came over the intercom, snapping him back to reality.

"Alright, you know the drill." Robin's voice echoed. "Remember the order. Giant metal fists, guillotines, then turrets."

There was a click directly after Robin had stopped talking. Tyler glanced up at the speaker the sound came from, then straight ahead. He was nervous. Very nervous.

He let out a shrill, nervous breath as the door opened, letting light into the room. He let his helmet encase his head, then stepped outside. He was on the island soil that the T-Tower was built on. He saw Robin and Raven behind a control panel of some sort, with a digital clock which read '00:00' on the front. It was elevated from ground level, being placed on a short, stone wall about 7 feet high. Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy were standing on the ground, in front of the control panel.

Robin leaned into a microphone, and spoke into it.

"Alright, Tyler. You ready to go?" Robin's voice boomed over the outside speakers.

Tyler looked up at Robin and gave another slight nod.

"Time to beat is 1 minute, 32 seconds. Cyborg's previous record." Robin pressed a button on the control panel. "And, GO!"

A loud alarm was heard as Robin hit the activation switch. Tyler took off at full running speed almost instantly, his augmentations being put in effect. He ran into the first area of the course, not quite prepared for what was about to happen.

The words "WARNING! PROJECTILE INCOMING" showed up in front of his eyes with an arrow pointing in the direction it was coming from as the helmet detected the first giant metal fist. It was coming from directly below him.

Tyler quickly jumped forward, rolling in midair as the fist came out of the ground barely missing him. He landed, and jumped to the right as he was warned of another fist coming in diagonally from his left. He continued running forward, adjusting his direction to run around the giant, metal fists popping out of the ground. He jumped off of the side of a fist that came from his right, which sent him over another that came out at a sharp angle from the left. With that, he was done with the fists.

The rest of the Titans cheered him on from the sidelines, except for Robin and Raven, who were keeping an eye on the readings on the dash.

Directly after he was finished with that, he continued running at full speed to the guillotines. The gates all popped out of the ground. They resembled what they were named for. Giant, metal guillotines, without a blade, just a metal 'door' that came down on whoever ran under it. He ran under the first one, and the 'door' of the gate came crashing down to the ground, barely missing Tyler. He yelped in surprise as he rolled under the next one, and baseball-slid under the third.

He then kept on running, and three turrets came out of massive rocks in front. Metal parts slid on them as they took their form, and fired.

_Oh wonderful. They fire LASERS. _Tyler thought to himself.

He made a sort of zig-zag pattern as he moved to avoid the lasers. He drew his bow, jumped, and span in the air with his arms to his side. He span multiple times until he reached the crescent of his jump, at which the turrets stopped firing to cool off. Facing the turrets, he drew an arrow, took aim and fired. The arrow had hit it's target and detonated by the time he had landed. He then darted to the right as the turrets took aim and fired again. He performed a round-off gymnastics move, which then transitioned into a back flip as he skillfully dodged the projectiles. He prepared another during his back flip, which he fired while he was still in the air. The turret exploded, with that hint of glowing orange liquid from before.

_One more to go, Tyler. You're doing good._

The final turret was almost finished it's second cool down sequence. Tyler took advantage of this as he ran straight for it. The turret's cool down ended and it aimed at Tyler again. Tyler instantely thrust his left arm at the turret, and the Tether came out of it's device and connected with it's target. The turret started to smoke and spark, the Tether interfering with it's circuits. He jumped high into the air, performing a front flip over the turret with his arms out to his side. He landed on the other side of the turret, his left arm now behind his torso. He quickly spun around to face the turret, swinging his left arm as his did so, which ripped the turret off of its stand completely. A massive amount of sparks and smoke spewed from the stand as the turret hit the ground.

Tyler retracted the Tether and stood up straight, arms at his side. He glanced over at the rest of the Titans, and his helmet slid off around his head. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg cheered even louder as he walked towards them all.

"So." Tyler said as he approached the control panel, he gave a small grin. "How'd I do?"

The digital clock went blank for a second before reading 2:10.

"Two minutes, ten seconds. That's quite good." Robin responded.

Raven kept quiet.

The rest of the Titans ran to Tyler, telling him that he did awesome.

Robin turned to Raven, arms crossed. "That was great for his first try."

"It was." Raven nodded.

"Can you trust him now?"

"I suppose..." Raven replied, obviously deep in thought. "...he's trustworthy."

"Tyler told us all about his past, Raven. He opened up. He didn't keep anything from us. Terra did."

Raven thought to herself in silence for a few more seconds, before replying.

"The other guys seem to like him." she said, a smile creeping on her lips as she watched the others crowd around Tyler, congratulating him.

"So, it's settled then." Robin stood up. "I'll tell him."

Robin walked down to where the other three Titans were standing. He approached Tyler, who turned to face him.

"So." Robin asked, a blank expression on his face. "When were you planning on leaving?"

The other three Titan's spirits seemed to dampen a little at this remark.

Tyler shrugged. "I dunno. First thing tomorrow morning. Why?"

A grin broke out on Robin's face, he took a communicator out of his pocket.

"Don't bother packing." he held out the communicator. "You're staying."

Tyler took the communicator in his hand and looked at it for a few seconds. He looked back at Robin, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Wh-what?" was all he managed to get out.

"You're one of us." Robin said, nodding.

Tyler looked back at the communicator, checking out it's every detail. Then, a massive smile came over his face.

"You're kidding!" he said in an excited tone.

No. I'm not." Robin extended his right hand. "Welcome to the Titans, Tyler."

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg shouted.

"All right!" Beast Boy added.

"Oh, this is just so glorious! I welcome you friend-Tyler!" Starfire embraced Tyler in one of her trademark hugs.

Tyler could've sworn he felt a rib crack.

"Heh. Thanks guys." He said in a raspy voice, recovering from the hug. His smile was still on his face.

His glance then went to Raven, her arms crossed. She hadn't moved from behind the control panel.

"What?" he said, addressing Raven. "No welcome from the ray of sunshine?"

"Welcome." she said in an uninterested monotone.

Tyler rolled his eyes, and followed the rest of the team back to the common room.

* * *

Inside of the common room, Robin had one last thing left to give Tyler.

"This-" Robin held out what appeared to be a Teen Titans themed bank card. "-is your credit card. I got it made for you later today."

"Okay." Tyler raised an eyebrow, not recognizing it as special. "What does it do?"

"It has an unlimited amount of cash on it." Robin waved the card. "It never runs out, so you can go nuts."

"Woah!" Tyler eyes widened like a four year old's on Christmas as he took the card.

"You'd probably want to get a wardrobe, first." Robin replied, smirking.

"Oh, wonderful!" Starfire shouted. "I shall take him to my favorite store, _Sparkly Things_!"

"Um, Starfire?" Beast Boy responded. "That store's for girls."

Starfire looked slightly dissapointed. "Oh."

"Your permanent room will be the one you slept in last night." Robin added. "You can personalize it to your liking."

Tyler nodded. "Thanks, guys. For everything."

"No problem." replied Robin. He then turned around to go to the elevator. "And if you need anything, just ask."

"Alright."

Cyborg stretched out. "Well, I'm gonna go work on the T-Car. It needs a little tune-up."

"Can I help?" Beast Boy asked, hopeful.

"Fine." Cyborg said, sternly. "But don't touch anything. I'd rather not be electrocuted again."

Beast Boy chuckled nervously as they headed down to the garage.

"And I shall go to the mall of shopping!" Starfire exclaimed. "Would you like to come friend-Raven?"

"No thanks." Raven replied.

"Friend-Tyler."

"It's been a long day." Tyler responded. "I've still gotta get used to my surroundings."

Starfire then flew out of the room, preparing for her day out.

Tyler turned to face Raven.

"Hey." he said, softly. "Thanks for not letting me run off yesterday." he smiled a thankful smile.

"It's no trouble." she said. "I think you'll fit right in here."

Tyler started looking around the common room again, impressed.

"That's the ceiling." Raven said as Tyler stared upwards.

"You don't say?" Tyler replied, sarcastically.

"Enjoying the view?"

"It doesn't get old, that's for sure."

"I'll bet."

Tyler paused. His mind began to go off again.

_Just ask, dude._

_But-_

_The worst thing she's gonna say is 'no'._

_But she's-_

_It's not a date or anything._

_But she's pretty. And her leotard is form-fitting! FORM FITTING! _

_I guess that might be a problem. The whole 'legs' thing might be distracting, too._

_Yeah, see?_

_She has her cloak on, no problem._

_Oh yeah._

_There you go._

"So..." Tyler continued, looking back at Raven. "...mind giving me the grand tour?"

Raven shrugged. "Might as well."

"Awesome."

"Follow me."

Tyler followed her out of the common room, his mind going back and forth in his head.

_See? Was that so hard?_

_Kind of._


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Comments: I'm gonna answer a few more reviews. Here we go!**

_**XFlipJamsX: "please update."**_

**Kay.**

_**Potterfan1097: "I think your doing a GREAT job portraying the Titans'personality. I've read Teen Titans Comics, and all the episodes of the show. I'm really enjoying reading your work :D"**_

**Spank you very hard. The personalities of the Titans were one of the things I wanted to get right, and it feels great knowing that I've succeeded so far. :D**

_**PsychopathicEnigma: "Okay... You're my favourite kind of writer! I also dislike shipping! The story is amazing, detailed beautifully, plot is perfect! Must favourite this story!"**_

**Oh why thank you good sir. Thanks for the feedback. But, it's not that I dislike shipping. It's just that a shipping story wasn't what I wanted to write. Just clearing things up. :3**

_**PsychopathicEnigma(again): "I am loving this story! It's as if you are the creator of the Teen Titans because their personalities are spot on! I have to ask; who is your favourite Teen Titan? Mine is Raven because... She's just awesome!"**_

**Yer damn right Raven's awesome. She, along with Cyborg, are my personal favorites. Cyborg's there because of his humor, and Raven's there ue to her personality, backstory, and character development.**

**Also, dem legs.**

**But unfortunately, no. I'm not the creator of the Teen Titans. But if I was, I would immediately cancel Teen Titans Go! and bring the original show back for a reboot/sixth season.**

**...**

**Yeah, I don't like Teen Titans Go!**

**My thoughts after hearing about the show went something like this:**

**"Oh, boy! A new Teen Titans show! Man, I loved that show as a kid! I sure hope that this doesn't turn out to be a crushing disappointment."**

**I looked it up, and guess what happened.**

**It's just one of those generic, uninspired, flash animated shows that Cartoon Network's been shoveling out lately with a Teen Titans paint job. A cheap paint job, at that. It features that 'random' humor that's been shown to us a million times. There's absolutely no substance to the show, and that's a real downer considering what came before it.**

**You could argue that the original Teen Titans show had that 'goofy' humor to it, and it did. But that was balanced out by good story arcs, exceptional writing, excellent characters, and putting in some drama where it was needed. TTG! is just non-stop random humor. Granted, some of it is pretty funny, but even the humor doesn't hold a candle to the original in my opinion.**

**I understand that people like the show, and that's okay. To each his own. It's great that you've found something that you like, I personally don't like it.**

**Maybe I was just expecting too much.**

**I hope I didn't scare some of you off with my opinions.**

**Another thing I would like to add is that nobody's really said anything about Tyler. This, in my eyes, is a good thing, as that means people have accepted him as a big part in the story, and his introduction was smooth.**

**Nonetheless, I would love to hear some of your thoughts on the character. Feedback is always appreciated.**

**I hope you all enjoy the chapter.**

**Cheers.**

**-HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

**Chapter 6-Deus Ex Machina**

4:30 PM

It was quiet in the Titan's common room, except for the video game Beast Boy was blaring on the television. Tyler was at the Jump City shopping center, buying what everyone assumed to be a new wardrobe. He requested that he go alone, as he wanted to look something he dubbed 'really important'. This naturally raised suspicions with Raven, but Tyler promptly ignored her and walked out the door.

That was six hours ago. And now, a faint sound of metal music could be heard.

"Y'all hear that?" Cyborg asked from the kitchen, a large chef hat on his head.

Robin looked up from his newspaper and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't hear anything."

Everyone remained quiet. Cyborg turned away from the stove.

"Shh! There it is again!"

The Titans listened closely. Beast Boy paused his game.

"I hear something, now." Robin said, skeptical.

Beast Boy's ears twitched. "Sounds like a heavy metal song."

A little more silence, as the music grew louder. Closer. A faint revving sound of a powerful engine could also be heard, and it too was getting closer.

Raven peered up from her book. "Sounds like an engine, too."

Starfire stopped playing with Silkie. "We are going to look, yes?"

"What was your first clue?" Raven replied, now fully annoyed.

Robin stood up. "If this is what I think it is..."

Cyborg shrugged.

The five original Titans rode the elevator down to the main entrance. The giant metal doors opened, and they stepped outside. They weren't sure of what to make of what they saw.

Tyler was on a steel-colored motorbike with red highlights along the sides, it had a gleam to it, and it looked very, very expensive. The chorus of 'Planets' by Avenged Sevenfold was blasting at a ridiculously high volume as he approached the team, whipping the tail of the motorcycle to the side to stop in front of everyone. The Titans coughed as a large amount of dust was kicked up. Tyler put down the kickstand.

With the song still playing, he stepped off of the vehicle, and the front of his helmet slid off of his face. He was wearing a black 'Metallica' t-shirt, and khaki shorts. He leaned on the side of the bike, a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Well?" He asked. "Whaddya think?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg clearly enjoyed what they were seeing, yelling things like "Awesome" and "Dude" while oggling the bike. Starfire looked confused, and Raven didn't really care.

Robin's eyes narrowed.

"How much was the bike?"

Tyler patted the bike.

"$850,000!" He said proudly. "You said that the card's unlimited."

Robin crossed his arms.

"We can't just go around buying expensive things for ourselves all the time." Robin lectured.

Beast Boy piped up from behind. "Um, Robin? You let Star do that all the time."

Robin sputtered. "YOU SHUT UP!"

Cyborg approached the bike, and closely examined it for a second.

"It's a nice bike, but it won't be able to keep up with the T-Car and the R-Cycle. Not without an upgrade." He explained. "I could work on it for you. Give it some better tech, a turbo." Cyborg smiled. "Maybe even some machine guns."

"Machine guns?" Tyler replied. "No way! That's insane!"

"Yeah, just wait here." Cyborg replied. "I'll open up the garage for you, and you can just drive it in."  
Tyler nodded. "Alright, Cy."

All of the Titans went back inside of the T-Tower, Robin grumbling something about 'un-intelligent spending'. However, Raven stayed, arms crossed, giving Tyler "The Glare".

Tyler stared her in the eye. "What?" he said in a harsh, cold sarcasm. "Did I tie my shoelaces in a suspicious manner?"

Raven rolled her eyes and went back inside.

* * *

7:30 PM

Cyborg was down in the garage, working on the upgrades to Tyler's bike. Starfire and Robin were sweet-talking one another in the kitchen, and Beast Boy was having a real problem trying to enjoy his tofu amidst all of the "snookie-poos", "cuddle-bears", and "Sweet little Blorthgars." Raven, on the other hand was levitating in the center of the room, reading. Tyler was in the bathroom.

A flushing toilet was heard, and Tyler entered the common room. He sat on the couch, kicked his feet on the coffee table, and turned on the TV.

"Well," Raven said, not taking her eyes off of her book. "Looks like YOU'VE gotten comfortable."

Tyler made a 'FFFFFFFFFFF-' sound as he bit his lower lip.

Cyborg made his way into the common room. He was covered in grease, and had a towel draped on his shoulder. He walked up to Tyler, with a newspaper in his left hand.

"So." Cyborg said. "Your bike's good to go. It's got the new tech, the turbo, and the machine guns. I'll show you how to activate those later." He tossed the newspaper into Tyler's lap. "By the way, you were in the paper a couple of days ago. Forgot to tell ya."

Tyler looked at the front page. He was very pleased with the front page.

**_"DEUS EX MACHINA FOR THE TEEN TITANS:_**

**_Mystery Man Takes Down Monster!"_**

Tyler smiled at the words "Deus Ex Machina." He repeated the words in his head.

_'Deus Ex Machina..."_

_"Ex Machina..."_

_"Machina..."_

Tyler liked the sound of that. 'Machina'. It had a nice ring to it. A damn nice ring.

It was decided. He found his hero name. He stood up to make his big announcement.

Just then, the alarms went off. An ominous red glow flashed in the common room.

Robin's sentence was cut off as his attention was drawn away from Starfire. He ran to the main screen and looked at it for two seconds.

"Trouble!" he said. "Control Freak's escaped from prison!"

"It's been, like, forever since someone broke out!" Beast Boy yelled. "And of all the villains to do it, it's CONTROL FREAK?"

Raven sighed. "Again with this? Why does he even bother?"

"I don't know." Robin replied. "But we have to stop him." He turned to Tyler.

"You got your first mission, Tyler."

"Machina. Call me Machina."

"Machina, huh?" Robin thought about Tyler's new alias. "That's pretty cool, I guess. Let's go, then!"

* * *

A white muscle-car with blue highlights drove at a high speed through the streets of Jump City. To it's left, a black and red motorbike was keeping pace, and to it's right, a steel motorcycle with red highlights was also keeping alongside the giant vehicle The person riding it had a sort of domed helmet. Above them was a green-colored eagle, a woman with a blue cloak, and a girl with an orange tint to her they were flying.

Their destination was a Shaw Internet building. People were madly running out of it's doors, screaming.

Control Freak, a heavy-set young man with long, red hair, and a sort of trench coat, laughed maniacally.

"Yes! With the power of my remote, I shall steal Jump City's internet! I shall have the fastest computer in the world, which means that I can illegally download anything in the blink of an eye!"

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard as the Teen Titans burst through the wall, all in a sort of fighting stance.

Robin widened his stance, and pointed a finger at the large-gutted villain.

"I hope they've got Internet in prison!" he exclaimed. "Because that's exactly where you're going."

Machina's arms dropped to his side as he glanced at Robin, his helmet not being able to hide his disbelief at the one-liner.

"Seriously?" was all that he could say.

Control Freak turned his attention to the unfamiliar Titan. "So, I see we have a new face among the Teen Titans!" he smiled. "And who mght you be?"

"Name's Machina!"

"Really, now?" Control Freak revealed his remote from under his trench coat, an arrogant smirk on his face.

Machina said nothing as he stared at Control Freak. He then turned his head to Beast Boy.

"This guy broke out of jail?"

"Yeah." Beast Boy replied.

"Jesus. Somebody's getting fired over there."

Control Freak's eyes widened. "How-how dare you! I'll teach you to mock me!" he raised his remote.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled.

The Titans dispersed, with Robin making a beeline straight for Control Freak, who pushed the big red button on his remote which sent a stray computer wire in Robin's direction. Robin jumped out of the way, which gave Control Freak enough time to put some more distance between him and the Boy Wonder. Machina gave chase.

Control Freak saw him and clicked his remote again.

"You're not running from me you-" Machina's old growl returned.

From what appeared to be from nowhere a large, obsolete computer monitor flew towards Machina's head, coming from the left side. He turned to face the incoming monitor. Machina attempted to dodge it by jumping back, but he wasn't fast enough. He grunted in pain as the computer screen hit it's mark, sending him wheeling through the air, only to be clotheslined by the plumbing on the ceiling. He fell through the desk of one of the cubicles.

"Machina!" Robin yelled as he saw this.

Raven was busy doing battle with a water cooler. She wrapped it in her dark energy and slammed it against the wall, causing it to burst. She finished just in time to see Machina go through the cubicle.

"And the new guy's the first to go down." Raven remarked coldly.

Cyborg was dueling with a 10-foot tall walking internet server. He jumped out the way as the machine lunged at him. Beast Boy transformed into a Triceratops and rammed the massive server, toppling it over. Beast Boy and Cyborg high-fived each other.

Starfire was fighting a second server, and managed to terminate it with a beam from her eyes which sliced clean through the machine's body. It dropped dead to the ground with a massive crash, smoke billowing from the hole.

All of the Titans were distracted, and Control Freak saw this as his chance to escape. He made his way to the exit. He was just about to step out of the office when he heard:

"FREEZE, MOTHAFUCKA!" Machina, who had regained his bearings, had a glowing orange arrow drawn back, pointing at Control Freak.

Control Freak put his hands up, and backed away. Machina used the Tether to violently pull Control Freak to him, and Machina held him by the collar.

"Where do you think you're going?" The helmeted man asked in a rough growl.

"Um. Out?" Control Freak replied.

"Wrong answer." Machina raised Control Freak higher into the air, in an attempt to scare him.

Control Freaks arms were still free, and he pressed another button on his remote, unbeknownst to Machina.

Machina heard the 'whooshing' sound of wires being whipped around. Still holding Control Freak, he turned around. Hundreds of thousands of wires were moving towards one spot in the room, wrapping around one another. The pile of wires got larger and taller, and it started to take on a humanoid shape. Finally, the last of the wires in the room were collected, and the wired formed a featureless humanoid. It stood about 7 feet tall as it crackled with electricity. It stretched it's newly formed limbs.

Machina's jaw dropped from behind his helmet.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Machina said calmly as the Wireman leapt at him.

Machina instantly threw Control Freak to the ground and jumped out of the way as the Wireman landed where he had been seconds earlier. It thrust it's arm through the floor, leaving a hole.

"Um. Guys?" Machina said in a worried tone.

The rest of the Titans looked over in shock at the new creature Control Freak's remote had made.

"It is a man of wires!" Starfire exclaimed.

"Since when could Control Freak's remote do that?" Cyborg asked.

"Who cares? We need to stop it!" Robin yelled as the Titans ran towards the Wireman.

Machina backflipped over a ray of lighting Wireman shot at him. He landed, and shot an arrow, which detonated in a puff of orange liquid to little effect. He dodged another ray, and shot two more arrows at the man made of wires. It only flinched slightly.

Suddenly, a green-colored bull rammed the Wireman into a wall, pinning it for a second before using it's horns to throw it across the room, sending it crashing through the wall of a cubicle. Beast Boy turned back into his human form.

The Wireman got back up, but was instantly hit with one of Cyborg's sonic blasts, which sent it flying across the room where it landed on the floor.

Robin hit a button on his Bo Staff which made it grow to full length, he then proceeded to unleash a lightning fast martial arts combo, with the assortment of swings, jabs, and twirls with the staff. He ended his combo with a powerful kick, which toppled the Wireman over.

Raven's eyes glowed a ghastly white as many different, heavy objects floated around her in a black aura.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she yelled as she thrust both of her arms at the Wireman, sending the objects flying in it's direction. All of the objects hit it's target with deafening force.

Machina launched the Tether at the Wireman, and the blue beam connected with it's chest, and he pulled it towards him. The Wireman flew through the air towards Machina. He waited until the right moment, and then stuck his foot out in a huge kick that connected with the thing's stomach. He deactivated the Tether at this moment, letting the Wireman fly across the room.

The thing got up, again. Starfire pelted it with multiple Starbolts the moment it did, though, to which it held it's arm up to protect itself. He shot a ray of lightning at Starfire, who just flew out of the way. She shot an eye-ray at the Wireman, which sent it stumbling back. Finally, Starfire's hands glowed green, as did her eyes. She flew straight toward the Wireman, and flew clean through the creature, leaving a massive hole through it's chest.

Cyborg whistled, and put a hand on Robin's shoulder. "That's YO' girl!"

The Wireman sprawled over to it's side. Starfire landed, and innocently brushed the side of her hair out of her face.

"We are victorious, yes?" She asked with a smile.

"Not yet." Robin replied, eyes narrowed. "We still have to catch Control Freak."

Machina let his helmet slide back, revealing his shocked expression.

"You just did that." he said as he pointed at Starfire.

* * *

Control Freak giggled maniacally as he ran out of the Shaw building. The Wireman was the distraction he needed to get away. He managed to get all of the tech and codes he needed for his master plan to unfold, and now he was scott-free. Everything was perfect.

Then,

The ground rumbled.

Control Freak stopped dead in his tracks, looking down at the concrete, confused.

"What the...?" he said to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ground in front of him beginning to crack and fall apart. Control Freak's jaw dropped as a 15 meter high behemoth with glowing orange joints rose out of the ground.

At this very moment, the Titans ran outside after Control Freak.

"Control Freak!" Robin started. "You're under-"

Robin and the rest of the Titans were in disbelief as the same creature they fought three days ago was in front of them again.

"What?" Cyborg exclaimed, turning to Machina. "I thought you just killed that thing!"

"Apparently not." Machina replied. "Or that wasn't the only one."

The behemoth turned, and roared at the Titans and Control Freak, the plates on it's face popping open to reveal the glowing orange skull.


	7. Chapter 7

**Remember to leave a review! A love hearing what you think of my work.**

**~HolyMaryMotherofGawd**

* * *

**Chapter 7-Killzone**

Control Freak was frozen in absolute fear, facing the roaring alien behemoth. His jaw was agape, his eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and his arms were glued to his side.

Robin remained unfazed as he yelled THE catchphrase.

"Titans, GO!"

The Titans dispersed, heading in different directions. Beast Boy morphed into a pterodactyl and flew upwards, carrying Cyborg into the air with him. Beast Boy flew above the head of the creature, and dropped Cyborg onto it. The behemoth recocoiled slightly, trying to swat at Beast Boy, who was easily able to maneuver around the beast's flailing arms. Cyborg hung on to the back of the creatures head, and tried to pry open the now closed 'faceplate', to no avail. It didn't budge. To add insult to injury, the behemoth didn't even seem to notice Cyborg.

"C'mon, you..." Cyborg grunted in frustration.

Starfire and Raven flew behind the behemoth, which had started to move forward, the glowing spots on its knees pulsating with every step. Starfire threw some Starbolts at it. The beast flinched with every hit, and turned to face its attacker.

Raven then picked up a car with her energy and flung it at the creature's head. With a large 'crash', the vehicle hit its mark, staggering the behemoth. Pieces of debris flew everywhere.

"Watch where you're throwin' that!" Cyborg yelled in panic.

Machina kept his distance, pelting the beast with arrows from afar. It flinched every time one of the arrows hit, which meant that it was doing some damage. He switched to another type of arrow, the one with the biggest payload, and took aim. It had a cylindrical end, that glowed orange, and pulsated somewhat. He let go of the drawstring, and the arrow went flying straight into the behemoth's neck. It didn't notice the arrow at first, but definitely had a reaction when it exploded in a wave of thick orange liquid. The behemoth staggered back yet again.  
"I SAID-" Cyborg yelled again, almost falling off of the creature's neck. "-WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING!"

Machina glanced over at Control Freak, who hadn't moved at all during this confrontation. He pointed at the heavy-set villain.

"You!" Machina said, roughly. "You helping or what? You go to prison either way, so how about you go with the knowledge that you at least did something good?"

Control Freak stuttered in fear, turned, and ran off down the street.

"Frickin' coward." Machina said to himself as he turned back towards the behemoth, and ran towards it.

Robin jumped out of the way of the creature's giant, clawed hand, which threatened to crush him from above. In mid-air, he produced four 'Ice Discs' and held them between his fingers. He swept his arm and threw the discs at the behemoth, aiming for its feet. The discs made contact, and instantaneously, the catalysts inside of the objects started to work, instantly forming ice around the creature's feet and calves. The behemoth, unaware of the newly formed crystals on it's legs, tried to take a step forward. It was unable to move its legs, its momentum brought it forward, but the behemoth swayed back, trying to keep its center of gravity. Starfire hit it in the back with a few more starbolt, and Raven followed this up with some of her dark energy. It started to slowly fall forwards, as Machina launched the Tether at its chest, pulling it downwards for good measure. Beast Boy, now morphed into a T-Rex, set it in stone as he rammed the back of the creature, bringing it down to the ground, the ice crystals breaking as it toppled.

"Woah! Woah! WOAH!" yelled Cyborg as the behemoth fell to the ground with a booming 'thud'. Cyborg instantly jumped off of the creature's neck and onto the street.

While it was lying on the ground, dazed, it looked up at Cyborg. Who, in turn shot it in the face with a powerful Sonic Blast.

"Booyah!" he shouted as the creature's face went straight to the ground.

"Something's not right, here." Robin thought. "The first monster was barely effected by our attacks, except for Tyler's bow and tether. How come this one was able to go down so easily?"

That's when Robin noticed a slight change in the creature's structure. There was less of the strange metal covering the creature then the one before, and there seemed to be a black sort of covering along the creature's thighs, inner elbows, neck, and upper chest. Robin assumed these areas to be its muscle mass. Robin looked closely, and could make out what appeared to be a glowing orange ribcage, visible from the side.

Machina looked over at Robin.

"So," he started. "how are we gonna keep him from getting up again? I mean, we don't have any rope."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Like this, genius."

"I'm getting real sick of your shit, Raven."

Raven bristled slightly at this before her eyes turned a ghostly white. She put her arms out straight in front of her chest, palms down.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." she said calmly.

Dark energy swirled around her hands as she slowly waved them around. From the ground came three strands of dark energy, which wrapped around the behemoth's torso, keeping it pinned to the ground.

"Now that we have dealt with this creature," Starfire piped up. "we can go chase down the Control Freak, yes?"

Robin nodded. "Exactly what I had in mind. Titans, split up!"

Machina turned around to head off, when he heard a quiet beeping alarm in his head, followed by words of text appearing on his HUD in his helmet.

"WARNING: SLIPSPACE ANOMALY DETECTED"

An arrow came up in his vision, indicating that the anomaly was happening behind him. Machina turned around, and looked up into the night sky to see multiple green, circular 'holes' rip open in the middle of the sky. Multitudes of small frigates and fighters warped through these holes quickly, before coming to a sudden deceleration as they exited the warpholes. Machina then noticed that they seemed to be in a circular position that left a large area open between all of the frigates and fighters.

Just as Machina noticed this, a green warphole much larger than the others came through opened. A massive cruiser that must have been half the size of Jump City made its way through the rip. It had two large 'fins' on it's side which bent backwards at the end. At it's end it had two 'spikes' which were above its engines. Its front was elongated, and ended in a rounded tip. Machina suddenly became very panicked.

"Um." Machina said, trying to maintain his composure. "Guys?"

Robin turned to face him. "What is-?"

The Titans' jaws all collectively dropped as they witnessed the scene.

Machina pointed at the giant cruiser. "That-that is a Tamaranean Royal battleship. X'hal Class."

Starfire got serious for a moment. "How do you know such things?"

Machina didn't answer as the Royal Battleship made its way forward, and began descending for a landing. The rest of the frigates and fighters kept near it.

A hatch opened on the underbelly of the massive ship, and a Tamaranean landing shuttle drifted out of it.

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Cyborg. Track its descent."

Cyborg began to fiddle with the touch screen on his arm.

"According to my calculations, its planning to land right in front of us."

"Let's go meet 'em, then." Robin replied.

Beast Boy shrieked. "Dude! Are you crazy? They'll vaporize us! And I'm too good looking to die!"

Raven simply rolled her eyes.

As predicted, the Royal Battleship's shuttle touched down in front of the Titans. Without saying a word, Machina started walking towards the landed ship.

A hissing noise as heard as the hatch on the Tamaranean vessel opened. The door, which also doubled as the exit stairs, came down in an arc. A large man was surrounded by three bodyguards. He had a large red beard, and they all wore a sort of light purple helmet. The man stepped down the stairs and onto the pavement. It was the high ruler of Tamaran himself

Starfire gasped. "Galfore! Why are you-"

Machina kept looking forward towards the Tamaranean visitors.

"Hold on." He said in a calm growl. "Let me talk to them."

Machina walked forward until he was directly in front of Galfore. Machina began to speak.

To everyone's surprise, he was speaking _fluent _Tamaranean.

"Glorfa ext paras klorfa? Eretz doh alazar?"  
_"Why have you come? What is your buisness here?"_

Galfore was surprised by the human speaking his language, yet he responded in kind.

"Kiratchufor, glorlaf qei du-"  
_"Youngling, we have reason to-"_

A shocked look suddenly came across Galfore's face. He yelled something in panic, and the three bodyguards suddenly rushed in front of the high ruler, yelling angrily in Tamaranean while pointing energy covered spears at Machina.

"Woah!" Machina yelled as he put his hands up. "Okay, Starfire! You talk to them!"

Starfire quickly flew in front of her friend, eyes glowing. She yelled at the bodyguards, and they immediately stood down and knelt before her.

Starfire and Galfore exchanged an unheard conversation for a few minutes. After they were finished talking, Starfire turned to the group.

"My k'norfka wishes to speak with you." She said to Robin.

Robin walked up to Galfore.

"Hello, Galfore. Tell me, why is it that you are he-"

Robin was interrupted by an abrupt slap in the face from the high ruler.

Starfire giggled nervously. "He...didn't take the news of our 'dating' very well."

Galfore then stepped forward towards Machina, and addressed him in English.

"Why are you wearing that helmet?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you a very simple question, human!" Galfore answered in anger. "Why are you wearing that helmet?"

"Um. I found it?"

Galfore calmed down a little. He looked towards the rest of the Titans.

"I have to ask all of you to come with me to the 'Light of X'hal'. There is an important matter to discuss, in regards to this new enemy you have been facing."

That was all the Titans needed to hear. Some insight on these creatures would be very much appreciated, even if it was a little bit of information. As the six Titans entered the shuttle, another shuttle was dispatched to secure the behemoth. A large glowing green claw came out of the bottom of the vessel, grabbing the fallen creature and lifting it to the 'Light of X'hal'.

Seven minutes later, the group was standing in Galfore's private quarters with the three bodyguards from before, still acting a little uneasy around Machina. Galfore, sitting in a strange Tamaranean chair, waved his hand dismissively at the guards and asked them to leave the room. The guards bowed their heads, turned, and left the room. 6 other chairs slid out of compartments in the floor behind each Titan.

"Please." Galfore motioned to the chairs. "Sit."

The Titans each sat in the chairs. Everyone except Starfire had some trouble getting into the chairs, and Beast Boy fell off of his. From out of nowhere, Raven engulfed Beast Boy in dark energy and violently crammed him into the chair. Her eyes were glowing an eerie white.

"Raven!" Beast Boy yelled when he regained his bearings. "What was that about?"

Raven just glared at Beast Boy, obviously upset with him.

"Wait," Beast Boy's voice went soft. "Are you still upset about the-"

His ears drooped as Raven crossed her arms and turned her attention back to Galfore, one leg over her other. Galfore ignored this little incident as he began to speak.

"I'm afraid I have unfortunate reasoning behind my arrival." he began. "You see, there is no way around what I must do."

Robin raised an eyebrow, a red mark covering his left cheek. "And what exactly is that, Galfore?"

"An ancient evil has awakened beneath your soil." he stared at the ground, unable to look the six heroes in the eye. "We must cleanse the planet."

"But they don't make sponges that big." Machina piped up. He was met with a collective glare from the rest of the Titans.

Machina raise his hands in mock surrender.

"Just trying to diffuse the tension." he singsonged.

Galfore shook his head. "We must launch a Tamaranean 'cleansing bomb' into the core of your planet to rid of this evil. Unfortunately, this will wipe out all life on your planet. That is the only way to stop this menace."

Robin, the spokesman for the team at the moment, asked the question on everybody's mind.

"What _are _these things?"

Galfore stared directly into Robin's eyes. A cold glare.

"They are known as the Mechinoderm. They are a strange and fearsome race. Part biological and part machine, neither parts of which have been seen from any other species in the vast universe."

He paused.

"They were created by an entity known as "The Dialect", for the sole purpose of ridding planets of life he found inferior. And, by the looks of things, he has already done it to your planet once."

"What do you mean"? replied Robin.

"If the Mechinoderm are below your feet, then that must mean that they were here before, yes?"

Robin nodded. "Please. Continue."

"The Dialect and the Mechinoderm ravaged your planet mercilessly, until no more life was left. Humans were thriving at the time. Infact, you were more technologically advanced back then than you are now.

However, for whatever reason The Dialect does not go as far as to completely cleanse the 'building blocks' of life. Cells. The very fundamentals of organism creation. Your species came to be as it had before, through a process you call 'evolution.' Humanity evolved as it did before, and the Dialect kept the Mechinoderm below the ground for millenia, waiting for the right time to unleash them. Presumably, when the population grows large."

"So," Cyborg's eyes widened. "They literally _blasted _us back into the Stone Age."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "How do you know all this?"

"Because," Galfore sighed. "It has happened to the people of Tamaran. Many centuries ago. Only the royalty know of this, and that is why we have means of keeping the population under control, as we know that they lay beneath our feet. Hasn't Starfire told you already?"

The Titans and Galfore all glared at Starfire.

"A-heh-heh-heh." Starfire laughed nervously. "Surprise?"

"Anyways." Galfore continued. "The Cleansing Bomb was built thousands of years ago as a means of a last resort against the Mechinoderm, it will wipe out all life, disintegrating everything down to the molecular level."

Robin stood up. "There has to be another way."

Galfore shook his head. "I'm sorry, Robin. But there is no other way. Even if there was, it would be most difficult with _him_ with you." he pointed to Machina.

"Hey." Machina replied. "I don't suck _that _much!"

"Well..." Raven started.

"Just stop right there." Machina turned to Raven.

Raven rolled her eyes, again.

Robin was confused now. "What's wrong with Machina? He's one of us."

"That may be." Galfore stood from his chair. "But that helmet he is wearing! His bracelet! His bow! Those were crafted by the Dialect himself. That is Mechinoderm technology, gifted to a human who allied with the Dialect's cause long ago, before he was killed by his fellow humans for his betrayal. It contains records of every species and planet the Dialect has conquered, Tamaran included."

Starfire piped up. "That explains why friend-Machina knew of your ship, and did the speaking of the Tamaranean."

"Yes, but since a piece of the Dialect himself goes into everything Mechinoderm, he has direct access to your mind, Machina."

Machina flinched at this. "Well, shit."

"Okay." Raven replied. "How do you know _that_?"_'_

"When the Mechinoderm invaded, humanity and Tamaran were allies, we interrogated the human and found out everything about the technology he was given. We came to your aid, but we were hopeless to stop them." he stared at the ground. "Everything we knew about the Mechinoderm, everything that happened to you. It was all recorded and kept in the Tamaranean archives, away from the public eye."

Robin changed the subject. "Please, Galfore. Hold off on the cleansing bomb for some time. It should be used as a last resort, when all hope is lost." Robin's voice suddenly became _very_ serious. "We will try to stop the Mechinoderm. But if we fail, do not hesitate to use that bomb."

"I give you my honor." Galfore replied, bowing. "I will only release the cleansing bomb when you give me the word."

Robin smiled. "Thank you."

Galfore sat back down. "I assume you want to be back in your home. I will have a shuttle waiting for you in Bay 6. All of your supplies and vehicles will be picked up and dropped off at your residence."

Robin nodded. "That sounds great, Gafore. And thanks again."

* * *

Cyborg and Robin were down in the garage discussing battle tactics, and Beast Boy was in his room reading comic books. The only ones left in the Common Room were Starfire, Raven, and Machina, who insisted that they call him by his given name "Tyler" whenever they weren't 'on the job.' Tyler was on the couch, watching an episode of "The Walking Dead" with a can of soda in his right hand, while Starfire and Raven were discussing something directly behind the couch. Even though Tyler was mostly concentrating on his show, the girls were talking loud enough that he could hear certain aspects of the conversation.

"Are you sure that they should do the moving of homes?"

"Of course. They aren't safe where they are now with the Mechinoderm out there."

"But what if they are not happy here in the Tower of T?"

"Melvin, Timmy, and Teether should be fine here. There's plenty of stuff to keep them entertained."

"But if they do not want to do 'the moving'?"

Tyler took a sip of his soda.

"Then they'll just have to deal with it. I have every right to protect my 'kids'."

Tyler almost choked on his soda as he did a classic 'spit-take' after hearing that.

Tyler wheeled around.

"WHAT!?" he shouted in shock. "YOU HAVE KIDS!?"

Raven cocked an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip. "I don't think you were included in this conversation."

"YOU HAVE KIDS!?"

"..."

"YOU'RE LIKE, SIXTEEN!"

"Seventeen." Raven corrected him. "And they're not my actual kids. They're orphans whom I was assigned to care for. I've simply grown to care for them."

Tyler let out a long breath. "Okay."

"Are you done?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't consider you 'parent material' anyways." Tyler chuckled.

A quick ray of dark energy flew out of Raven's forehead and sent Tyler flying against the television screen. She turned and left without a word.

"Jeez." Tyler said as he stood up, holding the back of his head. "She's been out for my blood since I got here. Have I done something wrong?"

Starfire smiled at Tyler. "Raven just takes longer to 'get used to' new people then the rest of us." she floated towards the door. "Now, I must head to the mall of shopping. Goodbye, friend-Tyler."

"Bye"

Tyler turned, still holding his head, and observed the giant crack he left in the TV.

"Aw man." Tyler whined. "Cyborg's gonna kill me."


End file.
